EDUC 638 May 23, 2013 Reflective Blog
This week assignment go to the very
core of your soul and heart pulling deep seated question about using technology
to really provide effective leadership. According to The Director’s guide to Leadership,
by Don Hall, Max begin question his leadership role in his position that he
eagerly accepted. However we all at some point struggled with some weakness in
being a great leader. At some point we display some great quality than also we display
some weakness in trying to be an effective leader. We must understand that
leadership comes in all forms throughout the world. We have educators in the
school system, in the University, Pastors, and parents that take on being the
best leader in our society. However I learned in the second chapter that Max
had taken on all-important first step in his personal journey into improving
his leadership abilities. We must realize that in our every day journey we take
part in these vital steps every day.
No doubt in my mind we have all ask the
question what kind of leader am I. Being an effective leader it comes with a
high price. We must sacrificed things in our life, in order to climb to the
next step to produces quality skills. In the Technology Director’s Guide to
Leadership, by Don Hall, he states that “Success is not usually achieved
through accident or trails and error. True, you can learn lessons through those
methods, but they are slow and costly. It’s better to have a plan”. (Hall, 2008).
Nevertheless hall focuses upon the
Leadership Continuum Model (LCM) which portrayed a particular aspect of the
archetypes. Now these three leadership types are Sage, Sensei, and Oracle. The
stage represents the authoritarian type of leadership, the sensei represents the
dual role of mentor and the facilitator, and the oracle leadership type lives
primarily in the global and abstract ideas. We learn in Educational Leadership
and Planning for Technology, by Picciano, he focus on the importance of planning
fundamentals. He highly recommends that the educational administration must
plan. As we learn before we must have goals and plan which is a key factor in
this chapter. (Picciano, 2011) When using technology for promoting and planning
educational needs it can set the motion of an excellent leader skill.
Reference
Hall, D. (2008). The Technology Director’s Guide to
Leadership. Eugene: ISTE.
Picciano, A. (2011). Educational Leadership and Planning for
Technology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
3 comments:
Hello Christopher,
I just finished reading your thoughts on school technology and leadership. I am curious about the leadership continuum: Where does your leadership style fall on the line? For me, I would be somewhere between sage and sensei. I would like to move a little farther to the right; in other words, I am working on becoming a "big picture" person when it comes to systems planning. Under stress, I go way to the left and become a task master and a juggernaut of direct instruction. I need to do some work to become a more visionary leader. I have read some of John Maxwell's books. I like them because he is a Christian as well as an expert on leadership. Following Christian ideals in leading others makes sense, and I believe it works.
I like the quote you used in your post: “Success is not usually achieved through accident or trail and error" (Hall, 2008). Up-front planning is so important when making systemic changes in a school because it is a cost-saver, like your blog says, and a "total change of technology" is essential for successful implementation. (Picciano, 2011)
A good leader has these priorities in order, and I also believe that selflessness is a character asset for those who lead. Ralph Nader's quote in Chapter Two of the Hall text says it well: "I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers" (Hall, 2008). Giving away gifts of knowledge and vision and learning from others that builds strong leaders and strong programs.
Thanks for your insights and for allowing me to comment. Please feel free to respond if want to talk more about this. I would enjoy it! Peace and blessings to you and yours.
In faith, Dana
References:
Hall, D. (2008). The Technology Director’s Guide to Leadership. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education
Picciano, A. G. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology (5th ed.). Columbus, OH: Pearson Education
Hi Christopher,
I had an observation about your comment,"Being an effective leader it comes with a high price. We must sacrificed things in our life, in order to climb to the next step to produces quality skills." I believe that not being a leader even comes with a higher price. How can we count the cost of mediocrity and simply embracing the status quo. Is there such a thing as the status quo for technology directors? There should be. Things change too fast. The cost of not being a leader is mediocrity. I see it now in a school where I used to work. The technology coordinator is still stuck on enforcing standards from ten years ago telling the administration and teachers that 1 gigabyte of storage space is all the school's server should be expected to hold. There are 40 teachers in the school. So because he doesn't want to implement a new server, everyone in the school suffers.
Technology leaders worth their salt must always be thinking ahead toward how technologies will change the landscape for their institutions. Understanding one's leadership style as stated in the text is important, but some personality types are leadership personalities at all. Some who love security and the status quo aren't a sages or sensis(Hall, 2008). The more thorough approach to understanding leadership I believe it to look at personality style. That dictates leadership style. I think Hall (2008) assumes too many people are leaders.
References:
Hall, D. (2008). The Technology Director’s Guide to Leadership. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education
I really enjoyed reading your post today. Leadership is extremely important to how things get done in any aspect of life. I think as a teacher sometimes we assume that because we are the teacher that we automatically have the necessary qualifications to be the leader. I found that just because you are the most knowledgeable, most experienced, oldest, etc. doesn’t mean that you are necessarily a leader but sometimes our roles force us into leadership positions. That being said, we must do all that we can to improve our leadership abilities. As I was going through my undergrad, a lot of my professors would talk about being a lifelong learner. I agree that teachers should constantly be improving and learning new methods and strategies for teaching. I also think that teachers and other educators should be constantly improving on their leadership. Another way to improve the classroom experience is to show that you are the leader of a classroom instead of just telling people that you are the leader.
I am very interested in seeing what can be done with technology in the classroom setting. I think that I can be a leader in my school by incorporating different types of technology in my classroom and then showing other teachers how I incorporated the different technologies. By doing this, not only do I help the students in my class but also students throughout the school where I work. In so many ways, the keystone to being a leader in any setting is planning. So as I look into improving my leadership skills, I will plan as much as possible and be as prepared as I can be.
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